Tribesmen blow up Yemeni oil export pipeline, halting flows

SANAA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Tribesmen blew up Yemen's main oil
export pipeline on Friday, halting crude flows, local officials
said, less than a week after it was repaired.

Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly
sabotaged, often by tribesmen who have feuds with the central
government, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings
for the impoverished country. The last attack was on Oct. 16 and
the pipeline was repaired two days later.

The officials said the pipeline, which transports crude from
Marib oil fields in central Yemen to Ras Isa on the Red Sea, was
blown up in the Wadi Obaida area.

Yemen has said oil flows through the Marib pipeline, one of
its main petroleum export routes, at a rate of around 70,000
barrels per day (bpd).

Before the spate of attacks began three years ago, the
270-mile (435-km) pipeline carried around 110,000 barrels per
day to Ras Isa.

It was unclear when it would be repaired.

Heavily-armed tribes carry out such assaults to extract
concessions from the government such as jobs, settlements of
land disputes or the release of relatives from prison.

Most of Yemen's output is from the Marib-Jawf area in the
north, with the rest coming from Masila in the southeast.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing
by Andrew Roche)